Twitter blocks two accounts critical of Turkish govt

Twitter executives have admitted that the company has blocked two Turkish social media accounts which were used to leak secret government documents and accuse authorities of widespread corruption.

The two accounts – @Haramzadeler333 (which translates to “Son of
Thieves”) and @Bascalan (“Prime Thief”) – had nearly one million
followers between them and frequently used their statuses to
publicize classified files and taped phone conversations that
cast Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a harsh
light.

When searching for the accounts on Sunday, Twitter users found
that the whistleblowers' accounts had been marked as
“withheld.”

This comes after a series of discussions between Twitter
executives and Turkish government higher-ups last week.

Twitter denied to AFP that it would provide each user’s details
to the government, although the mere fact that two accounts have
been blocked raised eyebrows because Twitter’s global policy
previously stated that it only withholds content “after due
process” (a court order, for example).

“We don’t withhold any content at the mere request of a gov’t
official and we may appeal a court order when it threatens
freedom of expression,” the company said. “Twitter has
not provided and will not provide user information to Turkish
authorities without valid legal process.”

Erdogan previously sought to block YouTube and Twitter in March,
after audio surfaced of a sensitive conversation between Turkish
leaders regarding the security situation in Syria. The ban was
instituted in the weeks before municipal elections.

The Twitter blackout was lifted on April 3, once the country’s
highest court decided that the government rule was a direct
violation of free speech. Two other rulings declared that YouTube
should be unblocked for the same reason, although the video site
is still unavailable to Turkish audiences.

There is an estimated 10 million Twitter users in Turkey and,
while the company’s decision to block the two accounts in
question may initially appall anyone concerned with the freedom
of information, it may not be as totalitarian as it first seems.
Russell Brandom of technology website The Verge wrote that Turkish Twitter users
have already proven the ability to subvert such blocks by either
starting a new account or modifying their own.

“Twitter’s system for blocking the accounts isn’t IP-based
and bypassing it is as simple as changing your ‘country-setting’
to somewhere other than Turkey,” he wrote on Monday.
“It’s a trick that’s been circulating since 2011, and one
that many Turks are likely already familiar with.

“The result is a diplomatic compromise for both Twitter and
the Turkish government. The accounts are officially blocked,
letting the regime save face, but any new leaks from the accounts
should still easily circulate through the network,” Brandom
went on. “As with the earlier block, keeping the accounts
locked out of the conversation is harder than it sounds.”